(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic community system and more particularly to an electronic community system in which communication among users is performed using virtual characters in a virtual space formed on a computer network.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, electronic community systems using a personal computer communication system have been proposed. In the electronic community systems, a virtual space is formed on a computer network and displayed on user terminals. Users operate, by use of a mouse, characters (hereinafter each of characters is referred to as an "abator") in the virtual space displayed on the user terminals, the virtual having a plurality of objects. An "abator" operated by a user communicates with "abators" operated by other users in the virtual space so that services prepared in the system are available for users.
A communication system in which the electronic community system is formed has a structure as shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a service center is provided with a host computer (hereinafter referred to as a host) 300 formed of one or a few workstations. A plurality of user terminals 500(1), 500(2), . . . , 500(n), to which services prepared in the electronic community system are supplied, are connected to the host 300 by a communication network 400. The host 300 carries out management for the electronic community system and users. In a user terminal 500 (i), a user performs an operation for logging the user into the host 300 (a log-in operation), and accesses a virtual space formed by the host 300. The host 300 and the user terminal 500 (hereinafter, the respective user terminals 500(1), 500(2), . . . , 500(n) are generally referred to as the user terminal 500) are formed as shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, the user terminal 500 has a keyboard 1, a mouse 2, a display unit 3, an input unit 10, an input analyzing unit 11, a user command transmission unit 12, a system command receiving unit 13, a command interpreting unit 14, an animation engine 15, an animation database 16 and a display controller 17. The host 300 has a user command receiving unit 20, a user command interpreting unit 21, a user information managing unit 22, a user information database 23, a system command generating unit 24 and a system command transmission unit 25. A virtual space formed by the host 300 is displayed on the display unit 3 of the user terminal 500, as shown in FIG. 3. In the virtual space, "abators" A and B are moved and talk with each other (talking sentences are displayed) in accordance with input information supplied from the respective user terminals.
When a user operates the mouse 2 and performs an input operation using the keyboard 1 to control the "abator" A or B in a user terminal 500 (i), input information depending on these operations is supplied to the input analyzing unit 11 via the input unit 10. The input analyzing unit 11 analyzes the input information. That is, it is determined whether or not the input information is information for controlling a moment, whether or not the input information is information regarding talking sentences, whether or not the input information is information for identifying functions and the like. Analyzed user commands (the input information) are transmitted from the user command transmission unit 12 to the host 300 via the communication network 400.
In the host 300, the user command receiving unit 20 receives the user commands from the respective user terminals, and the user commands are then supplied to the user command interpreting unit 21. The user command interpreting unit 21 analyzes contents of the user commands supplied from the user command receiving unit 20. The analyzing results are supplied to the user information managing unit 22. The user information managing unit 22 checks, with reference to the user information database 23, whether the analyzing results include contradictions. If the analyzing results include no contradiction, the analyzing results are supplied to the system command generating unit 24. The system command generating unit 24 generates, based on the analyzing results, system commands indicating how the "abators" A and B are controlled. Each of the system commands may include information indicating positions and moving directions of a virtual character "abator", information for controlling movement of the virtual character "abator" and the like. The system commands generated by the system command generating unit 24 are serially transmitted from the system command transmission unit 25 to the user terminal 500 via the communication network 400.
Furthermore, in the user terminal 500, the system command receiving unit 13 receives the commands from the host 300 and the commands are then supplied to the command interpreting unit 14. The command interpreting unit 14 interprets the commands so that the commands can be understood by the animation engine 15. The interpreted commands are supplied to the animation engine 15. The animation engine 15 makes an animation in which respective objects are moved in the virtual space, based on animation data for the "abator" and other objects in the virtual space which animation data stored in the animation database 16. The display controller 17 controls the display unit 3 so that the animation is displayed on the display unit 3.
In the electronic community system as described above, the user communicates with other users through the virtual space displayed on the display unit of the user terminal. Thus, a user suffering from an eyesight disorder cannot use the conventional electronic community system.